Instead of talking about extending term limits, why hasn't anybody discussed reducing them to something like two years, or even 9 months?

Sure, it's been hectic trying to keep up with all of the election news this year, but since Pol Position started offering up our skewered opinion on New York City politics, we can't remember ever having this much fun! The citywide races alone would be exciting enough, but with all of these veteran newcomers appearing from out of the woodwork, we've had plenty of source material to choose from.

And now that September 15 is fast approaching, things are just getting more and more heated. We've been doing this a lot lately, but the editors will only give us one page (one-quarter of which they take up with their legalese and tooting of their own horns, courtesy of the staff box) so we're going to give a quick rundown of some of the election cycle news that caught our fancy this past week.

• It seems that some candidates want it both ways when it comes to their views on gay marriage, or at least that's what you might be led to believe if you read both the English-language papers and the Yiddish paper Der Blatt. Last week, 39th District candidate Brad Lander had a little explaining to do after he was characterized in Der Blatt as being against “abominations,” which is an apparent reference to the Book of Leviticus and refers to homosexuals. Lander has said in other parts of the district that he is a supporter of gay marriage, and that he had no idea that the ad was running in the paper. Whoops!

• Don't call me a jerk, jerk! The head of the Voter Assistance Commission, a non-partisan group that promotes “Get Out the Vote” efforts, reportedly posted a comment to a YouTube video of Alex Zablocki, a Republican candidate for public advocate, calling him a “jerk.” That commenter, Jeffrey Kraus, later apologized, and explained that he thought Zablocki playing up his decision to serve the public rather than enter the private sector where he could have worked less and made more money was unnecessary. Personally, we think words like “jerk,” “loser,” and “paltry scurvy wretch” are just the type of assistance that New York City voters can use.

• Hey, whatever happened to Councilman Charles Barron running for Brooklyn borough president? We seem to remember some sort of announcement to that effect a while back. Of course, that was before the overturning of term limits, so he must have changed his mind. That doesn't mean he's being silent, though (has he ever been). Barron criticized fellow Brooklyn councilman Bill de Blasio recently for prominently featuring his wife in his campaign literature. His wife happens to be black, and Barron thinks it is a poorly conceived ploy to pander to the black vote. We have an issue with de Blasio's mailers as well. You see, de Blasio is tall. Really tall. We believe that in his mailers, de Blasio is deliberately misrepresenting his height, either by crouching down or having his family stand on some sort of riser in an effort to sway the short vote. Unacceptable.